Scope of Hurricane Milton damage emerges as power outages and fuel shortages remain in Florida
Florida residents repaired damage from Hurricane Milton and cleaned up debris Friday after the storm smashed through coastal communities and tore homes to pieces, flooded streets and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes. At least 17 deaths are linked to the storm, officials told CBS News.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing threats to safety including downed power lines and flooded areas.
"We're now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable," DeSantis said Friday. "You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there."
The White House said on Friday afternoon that 1,000 federal personnel remain on the ground. Search and rescue teams have conducted more than 4,200 rescues and assists and 1.2 million meals have been delivered to people in need, with another 1.6 million set to be delivered.
Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, the system flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays' baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane. Dozens of rescues have been conducted across the area.
Tampa evacuee Lillian Bicart, 80, told "CBS Mornings" that flooding severely damaged her home.
"I have to sit down and think what I'm going to do, because I lose everything, everything too wet," Bicart said. "I never think about this. This is a bad dream, very bad."
CBS News flew over Siesta Key, just west of Sarasota, with the Florida National Guard Friday, where Milton made landfall Wednesday night as a Category 3 hurricane. From above the devastation seems limitless, a vast landscape of twisted metal and debris, marking the heartbreaking toll of back-to-back hurricanes.
Two days before Helene struck, Isabella McGovern's family purchased their dream home in Siesta Key after saving up for years. Now the home is gutted, with mud inside and their new furniture sitting outside.
"This was all from the first hurricane, because anything the water touches, you have to strip because of the mold," McGovern told CBS News.
And down the street, guard troops were handing out lifelines in the form of cleaning supplies, tarps and water, while the McGoverns wonder whether to stay.
"We can't afford to, you know, build a house all over again," McGovern said. "So, we were thinking, if anything, you know, refurnish it, make it look nice. And in the next two to three years, put it back in the market."
Tornadoes also left a swath of damage across Central and Southern Florida.
"Even with the hurricanes, it's never been this bad ever," Jashanti Williams, whose family hid in the bathroom as the tornadoes ripped through the neighborhood, told "CBS Mornings."
As residents assessed damage to their property, more than 1.7 million customers in Florida remained without power Friday night, according to Find Energy. The White House said 50,000 workers, many from across the U.S. are working to restore power.
In West Palm Beach, lineman Erik Escobar told CBS News Friday he has been working for 17 days straight across the Southeast for storm recovery.
"I went to St. Petersburg, Florida, and I went to Savannah, Georgia, and South Carolina," Escobar said.
EJ Burcham, a lineman from High Point, North Carolina, was working Friday in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, repairing downed transmission lines damaged by Milton. He had previously been working to restore power to North Carolinians devastated by Helene.
"It means a lot when you go someplace and somebody comes up to you and they say, 'Thank you for what you do,'" Burcham said.
A flood of vehicles headed south Thursday evening on Interstate 75, the main highway that runs through the middle of the state, as relief workers and evacuated residents returned to assess the aftermath. Bucket trucks and fuel tankers streamed by, along with portable bathroom trailers and a convoy of emergency vehicles.
As residents tried to get back to find out whether their homes were destroyed or spared, finding gas was still a challenge. Fuel stations were still closed as far away as Ocala, more than a two-and-a-half-hour drive north of where the storm made landfall as a Category 3 near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on Wednesday night.
According to numbers from GasBuddy, more than 2,000 gas stations in Florida had limited fuel as of Friday evening.
Natasha Ducre and her husband, Terry, were just feeling lucky to be alive. Milton peeled the tin roof off of their cinderblock home in their neighborhood a few blocks north of the Manatee River, about a 45-minute drive south of Tampa. She pushed to leave as the storm barreled toward them Wednesday night after he resisted evacuating their three-bedroom house where he grew up and where the couple lived with their three kids and two grandchildren. She believes the decision saved their lives.
They returned to find the roof of their home scattered in sheets across the street, the wooden beams of what was their ceiling exposed to the sky. Inside, fiberglass insulation hung down in shreds, their belongings soaked by the rain and littered with chunks of shattered drywall.
"It ain't much, but it was ours. What little bit we did have is gone," she said. "It's gone."
With shelters no longer available and the cost of a hotel room out of reach, they plan to cram into Terry Ducre's mother's house for now. After that, they're not sure.
"I don't have no answers," Natasha Ducre said. "What is my next move? What am I going to do?"
Meanwhile, Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld planned to reopen Friday after an assessment of the effects of the storm.
Orlando International Airport, the state's busiest, said departures for domestic flights and international flights would resume Friday, after resuming domestic arrivals Thursday evening. The airport had minor damage, including a few leaks and downed trees.